Monday, December 6, 2010

YOU'VE GOT TO KEEP THE DEVIL WAY DOWN IN THE HOLE: There are two ways to tell a zombie story. In the first, there's no hope, in which case the story is an endless tale of attrition, where survival is dependent upon constant vigilance, and inevitable lapses are punished. In the second, there is a solution, and the struggle is less for survival than goal-oriented salvation. These tropes are not unique to zombie fiction (see A Brief History of the Dead for an example of the former; Battlestar Galactica for an example of the latter; Dan Simmons's The Terror for a book that keeps you guessing between the two), but zombie fiction forces the choice. In Zombieland, you know our idiot heroes aren't going to save the world, but you Resident Evil would be a lousy game if your only goal were to escape unharmed.

What was nice for me about this brief, engaging, surprisingly measured and thoughtful season of The Walking Dead is that it postponed that choice as long as it did. (Hopefully, I'm not spoiling the choice the show made.) Alan Sepinwall's summary of this season was that it was more prologue than story, and that seems exactly right: the direction next season is going to take necessarily will be different from the thread of this short season. So bring on next season.

Also, as usual, I will root for the zombies.

8 comments:

  1. Anonymous3:52 PM

    The title of this post, by the way, is the theme song from the Wire but refers to the employment of a common zombie video game set piece -- the Secret Underground Research Facility.

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  2. isaac_spaceman3:53 PM

    me

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  3. Anonymous4:18 PM

    How can it be difficult to obtain firearms in this post-plague world (specifically, the Post-Plague Southern United States)? I mean, I get for the fellows protecting the clinic inside the city limits, but for our heroes?  There were 100 dead United States soldiers there on the ground in front of CDC and others elsewhere.  And, you know, it's the South.

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  4. The Pathetic Earthling4:23 PM

    Me.  Or at least the post-infection, pre-reanimated version of me.

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  5. The Pathetic Earthling4:27 PM

    One more comment: in an interview with the writer of the TWD graphic novels, he apparently has used the conceit that no one in his universe had ever heard of a zombie so there is no cultural immune response in place for people to even process the idea that there are zombies.  Don't know how that plays out over the long term of this story, but worth noting.

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  6. Adam C.7:12 PM

    Me, I'm wondering about the continuing availability of gasoline, particularly for that Winnebago.

    Really liked last night's ep, although several plot points were telegraphed very early. Noah Emmerich was terrific.

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  7. Ranhorn9:53 AM

    Are there in fact more guns in "the south" than "the north?"

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  8. Travis2:58 PM

    Finding gasoline wouldnt be an issue. There seem to be an abundance of cars around to syphon from. On that same note, I'm wondering they continue to drive those old rustbuckets when there seems to be a wide selection of newer and more reliable autos abandoned everywhere? There were ample military vehicles around the CDC to chose from, for example.

    I'm sure there was a scene shot from inside a Hummer (finding keys in the visor) but then the pull back shot showed the same 4 vehicles + winnebago driving away.

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